Set in the 19th century against a backdrop of island life and the vast surrounding seas, A High Wind in Jamaica is the gripping story of the Bas-Thornton children, whose parents send them back to England following a hurricane in the postcolonial Caribbean they call home. Having set sail, the children quickly fall into the hands of pirates. As their voyage continues, things take an awful turn

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Publisher's Summary

Set in the 19th century against a backdrop of island life and the vast surrounding seas, A High Wind in Jamaica is the gripping story of the Bas-Thornton children, whose parents send them back to England following a hurricane in the postcolonial Caribbean they call home. Having set sail, the children quickly fall into the hands of pirates. As their voyage continues, things take an awful turn. Narrated largely from the perspective of the children, the supposed innocents are not the only victims of amoral behaviour, but sometimes the perpetrators. As their voyage continues, things take an awful turn. Narrated largely from the perspective of the children, the supposed innocents are not the only victims of amoral behaviour, but sometimes the perpetrators. Praised for its atypical and unsettling take on the truth of human nature, Richard Hughes’ classic, first published in 1929, has been called one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and credited with paving the way for other masterworks such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Praised for its atypical and unsettling take on the truth of human nature, Richard Hughes’ classic, first published in 1929, has been called one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and credited with paving the way for other masterworks such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

I do not understand why the producers of this book believe that frequent interludes of music add anything. I suppose they believe that the words can't carry the story well enough, and so must insert guitars, dramatic scores, Johann Sebastian Bach. Also, unfortunately, the narrator has a way of reading in a very condescending manner, as if he were reading to children. He likes to drop the volume of his voice to emphasize passages, invariably requiring me to back up and increase the volume. It really detracts from the enjoyment of the story.

This is the second time I've read this magical novel and I like it even better this time than I did the first. A lot of what I love is just in the language Hughes uses - for example describing the ocean as a 'tissue of sensitive nerves' - you can feel the languid heat of the tropics, the wetness of everything, the riot of vegetation, the primitive danger of everything all around. This is a novel to just get lost in, to be held captive by like the main characters, so much so that I'm not particularly interested in analyzing the book to death.

I could talk at length about the theme of crumbling institutions (adulthood, piracy, plantations, the church, England), about childhoods that never end (John, through his 'martyrdom', and the pirates through negligence). I could compare it to Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' which is just as dreamlike, or to Peter Pan, or even Don Quixote.

However, I just don't want to pick this one to pieces. I'd rather play the role of Mathias and allow the book to surprise me, trick me, confound me with it's circus of near insanity, instead of turning it into a Margaret that's been violated by a bunch of dirty sailors (academics).

there was A High Wind in Jamaica. Rather than taking over an island, these kids take over a pirate ship...and the pirates are bamboozled. It's not a comic story, but a fascinating character sketch of a 10 year old girl becoming aware of her self and her place in the world and a down-and-out pirate in an age where technology is leaving him behind. Although the story is mostly about 10 year old Emily, there are no heroes and Emily is at once a remarkable and very ordinary child.

This is a very complex story about coming of age in a very complicated world. It is not sugar-coated.

I remember the movie in the 60s with Anthony Quinn and James Coburn. I liked the movie, but honestly the personas of both of those actors were too big to capture the very ordinary human condition of the pirates in the book. It's well worth the read.

Colonial Jamaican high sea adventures in late 19th century seen through the eyes of displaced children whose not yet matured mind and rich imagination altered their and others' lives. This well penned classic is hard to categorized and grasp; it has the very construct of an epic adventure, yet deeper, the theme of perverted innocence percolates.

This was on the Modern Library list of top 100 of the 20th century and for the sake of variety I don't mind it being included. the Narrator is good and the story is a bit of a cross between Treasure Island and Pirates of Carribean. It's not quite a swashbuckler but has it's moments; it's more of a character study with a heavy lean on the young girl's growing up and not quite understanding the "adult" world and events around her. It is lighthearted with a serious ending. There is some very nice writing, rather poetic at times that I really liked. Though it involves kids with pirates it's not a children's book per se as there are serious elements.

What's cool about this book is that it changes while you're reading it. The book starts off as a swashbuckling story involving children and pirates and transforms into something that would make lord of the flies look like a day at the beach

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